Have you ever had the office go silent on you?

It happened to me a few weeks ago.

I was in meeting at an open area within the office floor. At first there was ambient noise with other colleagues in their cubicles speaking, typing.

My meeting got heated. A few colleagues, including myself, got pretty loud in saying how a recent internal work process was making things less productive rather than more (details aren't important; I can't share them anyway).

Moments later, I realised the office went quiet.

I had mixed feelings of righteous anger and embarrassment. I guess it was the realisation that we had called attention to ourselves.

The problem with verbal outbursts is that people around me won't grasp the full context. They are likely to remember that I was the one who got angry. Not good for my image, I thought.

I once read that only passionate workers get angry. If they don't it means they don't care.

When other colleagues have been rather exuberant in expressing their resentment (either at me or not) I take it in stride. In some case, I assure them it's OK to have that outburst, in private was preferred. The rationale is that it's a privilege, generally speaking, that co-workers are comfortable with me to speak or express emotions truthfully.

But personally I try not to show outbursts at work (btw, I fail miserably at home as my wife would point out). Some colleagues thankfully remind me on those occasions, diplomatically. Justified or not, I prefer to play the 'emotion-less' administrator.

Still, sometimes I forget.

Have you ever been in this situation?